Deadly bombs hit campaign event in Iraq

New York Times

April 6, 2013
Updated: April 6, 2013 11:07pm

BAGHDAD — Two explosions, the first from a suicide bomber and the second from a homemade bomb, ripped through a tent at a political rally Saturday in Baqouba, north of the capital, where voters and candidates had gathered for lunch.

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The attack left 20 people dead and nearly 55 wounded, according to local officials, and heightened concerns about violence before local elections scheduled for April 20. Among the wounded were four political candidates, according to a local official.

The attack occurred in a poor neighborhood in Baqouba, the capital of Diyala province, a turbulent region whose population is a mix of Sunni and Shiite Muslims. The explosions struck a political event organized by Azimon, a largely Sunni party. No group took immediate responsibility for the attack, but it had the hallmarks of al-Qaida in Mesopotamia, which frequently deploys suicide bombers to strike not just at Shiite citizens, but also at security forces and Sunnis aligned with Iraq's government.

The explosions struck in tightly packed quarters inside the tent and left a gory aftermath.

“It was like a red pond,” eyewitness Muhammed Hamdi said. “People were running over the dead ones. The place was full of blood.”

The lunch was hosted by Muthana al-Jourani, a Sunni candidate in the elections and a member of Azimon. The party had been a component of the Iraqiya coalition, a group of mostly Sunni lawmakers that won the most seats in Parliament during the last national elections, in 2010.

Security concerns have already delayed elections in two largely Sunni provinces, Anbar and Nineveh, and it was unclear if Saturday's violence would prompt calls for wider delays. The elections will be the first test of Iraq's fragile democracy since the departure of U.S. troops at the end of 2011. Nearly a dozen candidates in the provincial elections have been assassinated.

The delays in Anbar and Nineveh came after widespread protests, which still continue, by Sunnis against the Shiite-dominated government. The decision to postpone those elections, made by the Cabinet led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, was criticized by provincial officials as well by as the U.S. State Department.